# Card du jour



## bripper (May 24, 2008)

Have been collecting vintage postcards of Built America since 1970. Would like to share cigar postcards with the brethren.


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## UBC03 (Nov 18, 2015)

bripper said:


> Have been collecting vintage postcards of Built America since 1970. Would like to share cigar postcards with the brethren.


You've been puttin up some cool pics..thanks


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

Got many cigars postcards scanned from my collection and glommed from the Internet.
Once had 180,000 vintage USA postcards, but downsized to about 90,000 when I retired in 2004.


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## UBC03 (Nov 18, 2015)

One cool thing about living around here is the Marsh Wheeling advertisements still on buildings from many decades ago. Along with the Mail Pouch painted barns..but both are getting fewer each year.


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

Here is a lithograph postcard circa 1905 of a drugstore cigar counter at Ames Pharmacy in Gowanda NY


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## Ranger0282 (Mar 12, 2016)

Holy Cow....I would love to be able to turn the hands of time back and take a walk through that store!


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## ivandrocco (Feb 17, 2017)

wow love this


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## JimOD (Jan 19, 2017)

Wow! Great picture.


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

Have been hesitant about posting cards from my collection -- like showing home movies of your vacation. 
Here is another drugstore interior -- from North Branch MN, circa 1910. You can see the photographer reflected in glass of back cabinet.


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## dsm600rr (Feb 7, 2017)

These are very cool. Thanks for sharing.


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

This week's postcard is women cigarmakers in Havana. A lithographed postcard circa 1905


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## Cigary (Oct 19, 2007)

bripper said:


> This week's postcard is women cigarmakers in Havana. A lithographed postcard circa 1905


My kingdom for a female Cuban cigar roller!


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## poppajon75 (Apr 10, 2016)

Really cool @bripper. Please keep them coming.


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

Thanks for the positive response. 
One nice thing about postcards collecting is that it is infinite. You could never have every postcard.
Here is a 1910 lithographed card showing men selecting wrappers in Havana. Would love to have been there.


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

A maxim chrome postcard, with a postage stamp and Habanos S.A. seal from Cubatabaco's annual festival in Havana. This fella has enough smokes for the weekend.


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## JimOD (Jan 19, 2017)

Very nice. Keep em coming!


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

Joseph and Billy Bott had a restaurant, saloon, billiard parlor and cigar counter on North High Street in Columbus OH. It opened in 1905. Here is a delectable postcard of their cigars operation.
The location is home today to Elevator Brewery & Draft Haus elevatorbrewing.com


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

This sensational linen postcard, published by Curt Teich Co. of Chicago, was commissioned by Cuban Tourist Commission in 1941. The artist was Conrado Massaguer (1889-1955) https://cubaenlamemoria.wordpress.com/2012/10/13/conrado-massaguer-1889-1965-caricaturista/ 
Not a cigars postcard, but a memory of what makes cigars romantic, and Cuba so alluring.


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## OneStrangeOne (Sep 10, 2016)

Very impressive @bripper, I hope you keep posting these.


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## Humphrey's Ghost (Dec 27, 2016)

bripper said:


> This sensational linen postcard, published by Curt Teich Co. of Chicago, was commissioned by Cuban Tourist Commission in 1941. The artist was Conrado Massaguer (1889-1955) https://cubaenlamemoria.wordpress.com/2012/10/13/conrado-massaguer-1889-1965-caricaturista/
> Not a cigars postcard, but a memory of what makes cigars romantic, and Cuba so alluring.


Yes, pre-Castro Cuba was alluring for, ahem, cigars.


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

One of the best cigars postcards -- the factory, the cars, and especially the tin humidor.
Circa 1915, Detroit. Back then, big cities had dozens of cigars factories, and many small towns had one or two.


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

No quibbles -- this 1940s linen is the best cigars postcard ever. A dream date...


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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

I love old Americana stuff. Unfortunately I have loads of collections already and feel like a hoarder more and more each year. 

When my dad died and mom had to be downsized several times we sent so much great stuff to the thrift store. 
I did keep a collection of depression glass, but now and again I think of just using them as intended. 

I've been to several great museums that have old apothecary shops moved and restored inside the museums. Great stuff. Dad was a pharmacist by trade and always took a few weeks off to cover for his buddy who owned the pharmacy closest to where he grew up. Wal-mart sort of ruined his prospects of selling that old store. If it wasn't for the fact that his buddy Chuck, was Italian catholic and most of his business came from the local parish, he would have gone belly up in the 1990s. Luckily Chuck made it into retirement age but just closed his store outright. 


In Williamsburg, VA they have a colonial apothecary which is a treat to visit. My BIL grew up in a small town Pharmacy manning the soda fountain and ice cream while his dad filled prescriptions and his mom was the cashier. In that case Wal-Mart actually walked in offered a very small sum to close his shop and turn over all his files. The fool didn't accept and Wal-Mart had him audited several times until they found that he filled a Tylenol No.3, and never got the hard copy in the mail. That enough forced him to close shop without Wal-Mart paying a dime to him. It almost broke him mentally and emotionally after being a center of commerce in small town Idaho for almost 50 years. 

Some real sad stories about how Wally World did business back in the 80s-90s, while Sam still ran things. They were pretty ruthless. They still run pharmacies at a loss to sell merchandise and you just don't see very many non-chain pharmacies anymore. They don't have the legal funds or the cash to donate to campaigns. 

Once upon a time, from WWII- the mid 1979s rural small town pharmacies defined what was considered a town, rather than stop lights and proximity to larger suburban/urban areas. 

While working in NE/IA I saw many towns struggling to maintain an identity, but to many hardware stores, pharmacies and general merchandise stores that survived catalogue shops from Sears, JC Penny and Montgomery Wards, closed shops when dollar stores, bad fast food and any chain drug store opened up. 

Americana stuff is great. Have you ever thought of donating the cards to a museum or putting them all together in mural type fashion, where a picture could be taken an hung in many smaller town historical libraries?

Almost every town, in NY, PA, and NJ has a small museum and love photo murals of the ares before they were swallowed into suburbia. Just a thought.


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

A 1915 postcard for Vega del Rey, clear Havana cigars made by S.H. Furgatch Co. of New York.
Plus an outer box label for this brand.


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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

bripper said:


> A 1915 postcard for Vega del Rey, clear Havana cigars made by S.H. Furgatch Co. of New York.
> Plus an outer box label for this brand.


First I saw the side prices, without zooming in thinking man cigars were really expensive then too, then I zoomed in and saw that they were for 100 cigar boxes. I guess though a candy bar at the time was a nickel at most. Same with a hand made soda. That would cost you $2 today at least from any corner store. So $.05 to $0.15 was still not inexpensive if we take what the wages and such were.

My dad used the words 2 bits for a quarter, all the time, when I was a kid. Can you even buy gum balls and such anymore?

It se. Elms everywhere than pennies, pence etc are quite dead and you can save your change but face a 7% fee to pour it into a machine for credit or I don't know if anybody but banks take rolled change in paper tubes, but we definitely remember the days of bazooka gum and such. Some vintage candy shops in Winter Park, Florida and other places brim with nostalgia from childhood.

Thanks again for posting the cards.


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

A one-stop shop in Northfield MA -- the E.S. Kanrick barber shop, cigar counter and a pool room in the back. A rare postcard circa 1905. 
Click image for larger view.


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

A 1920s B&W real photo card of a cafe with cigar counter in Dawson MN. I like how they got slices of pie all set out.


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## UBC03 (Nov 18, 2015)

bripper said:


> A 1920s B&W real photo card of a cafe with cigar counter in Dawson MN. I like how they got slices of pie all set out.


Love these cards keep em comin bro..I'm a history nut.

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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

+1. Love the nostalgia. 


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

A 1960s chrome postcard of Cuesta-Rey's top vitolas.
Angel LaMadrid Cuesta and Peregrino Rey started this line of clear Havana cigars in Tampa's Ybor City in 1884. J.C. Newman Cigar Co. acquired the brand in 1958. The Newman and Fuente families continue to create Cuesta-Rey cigars today in the Dominican Republic.


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

A luscious postcard of a Portland OR business with a cigar counter, peanut wagon, an apple cart (it's Oregon!) and a gaggle of guys hanging out. Notice the advertising for La Integridad Cigars -- one of the top Havana brands of this era, circa 1905. La Integridad was distributed by a New York company called Charles Morris.


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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

bripper said:


> A luscious postcard of a Portland OR business with a cigar counter, peanut wagon, an apple cart (it's Oregon!) and a gaggle of guys hanging out. Notice the advertising for La Integridad Cigars -- one of the top Havana brands of this era, circa 1905. La Integridad was distributed by a New York company called Charles Morris.


Apples in Oregon, who would have thought, but while WA State has the Apple cup, many places produce loads of apples.

The neighboring county here in Upstate, NY is the second largest apple producing county in the USA. My wife's uncle Jim, a retired high school teacher has orchards that produce loads of apples, all bought by McDonald's for kids happy meals in MI, WI and some in MN. Go figure.

Oregon is known these days for fine domestic Pinot Noir wine grapes, while WA state grows Rhine river varieties as well as some fantastic Bordeaux varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, but both states could easily be switched on their produce as they have such similar geology and weather.

Cool picture. Love that they were making and selling Cuban cigars back then and that they were making their way through the PNW.

I would bet they would be far different than anything we smoke today. I think that everything from Hershey bars to the Coca-Cola and Dr. Pepper are so different from the birth of the 20th century.

Those were times when everybody was tough and it took a ton of hard work to make a simple living. I'm glad to see they had their indulgences too. Much of that had to do with the transcontinental railroad and then the Panama Canal, which prior to the time it was built, was slated to be built in Nica, but they distrusted Yankee imperialism way back, as I found out, when in Nica thanks to a filibuster/pirate-like guy named William Walker, who tried to actually take over Nicaragua, and did burn the colonial city of Granada down. He crossed railroad baron Cornelius Vanderbilt, who arranged to have him nabbed and executed by the British in Honduras. Corny, ran a river to lake, to river land shipping across Central America and he was as ruthless as they came, but either way cigars reaching the West Coast, by boat, train or wagon, were probably much drier and very different than what we see.

Again very great card Bart.

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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

A vivid postcard of wrapper selection at a Cuban factory, circa 1910.
What's with the guys behind bars?


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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

bripper said:


> A vivid postcard of wrapper selection at a Cuban factory, circa 1910.
> 
> What's with the guys behind bars?


Perhaps that's the person reading the books. The picture isn't showing in my phone, so I am only guessing.

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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

Ahoy! Lipschutz's 44 Cigars got great branding on the yacht Princeton. Benjamin Lipschutz owned the cigar manufacturer in Philadelphia. Lipschutz's 44 brand was his 5-cent cigar. His premium cigar was a 10-cent cigar called Adlon. Foppish guy on the Adlon label -- not sure I would buy anything with this guy on the box.
The 1910 postcard was issued as a promo by Capt. George B. Gale, harbor master in Atlantic City.


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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

The days of penny candy and if you were lucky a dollar or two a day as a wage, for the standard guy. 


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

Brass cash register and a pair of herfers at a cigar counter in Cosmopolis WA, c. 1910. 
Used to know a wonderful guy named Bronco Tesia, who owned the Liberty Tavern in Cosmopolis, called Cosi by the locals. Is a lumber mill town just west of Aberdeen. Into his 80s, Bronco had a side gig as a diver for the Grays Harbor County sheriff's dept., diving for bodies and booty in the Chehalis River and its many creeks.


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

One of the best cigar store interiors on any postcard -- Eckerd's in Columbia SC 1954. The Columbia store commissioned five B&W lithographed postcards in 1954. Included the soda fountain shot -- it is a doozy.
Eckerd's was one of the first drugstore chains, starting in Erie PA in 1898. Had 2,300 stores in 23 states at one time, as far west as Arizona. Company brokered to CVS in 2004 in a deal that had Rite-Aid acquiring some of the Eckerd's stores.


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## TheGentlemansLifestyle (Apr 10, 2017)

bripper said:


> A one-stop shop in Northfield MA -- the E.S. Kanrick barber shop, cigar counter and a pool room in the back. A rare postcard circa 1905.
> Click image for larger view.


I'll have to take the hour or so trek out that way and see if the building is still standing and if so what is now occupying the space!


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

A wonderfully clear interior circa 1915 of Martin Bros. Cigar Store in Waterloo IA. Beautiful cash register and terrazzo floor.
The owner was Hope C. Martin, a Waterloo entrepreneur married to a woman with the glorious name of Mayme A. Baro. Hope Martin had a wholesale candy and tobacco business in Waterloo. He owned 22 buildings, many farms and properties in Black Hawk County IA. There is a park and a theatre named for him in Waterloo. The park was camp site of the Pottawattomie, Fox, Sioux, Winnebago and Sac Indians. 
I worked at a cigar store Comer's when I was in college at U of Iowa. Would have loved to spend a few hours smoking and talking to the folks at this store. Then I would miss air conditioning and cable TV and want to return to now.


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

Cigars are a small motif in this luscious Curt Teich Co. white border postcard, circa 1920s, of the Wayne Hotel in Fort Wayne IN. The lobby shot is a wonderful space, with comfortable chairs, plenty of room and loads of cigars. Click the image for a larger version.


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

A detailed postcard of a Key West cigars factory dated 1906. This is an exceptionally large building for Key West in any era. Looks like the leaf strippers were women and the cigar rollers were men.
Click for a larger view...


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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

bripper said:


> A detailed postcard of a Key West cigars factory dated 1906. This is an exceptionally large building for Key West in any era. Looks like the leaf strippers were women and the cigar rollers were men.
> 
> Click for a larger view...


Usually it is opposite these days in larger factories but the key to rolling is small but strong fingers that can stretch like a concert pianist.

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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

One of the most recognized brands in clear Havana cigars was La Primadora, made by Max Schwarz at his 952 Third Ave. factory in New York. Here is a B&W real photo card of Schwarz's retail store at 1153 Broadway. Below is a closeup photo of the 1153 Broadway store with wood planking sidewalk. Other Schwarz stores were at 733 Broadway and on Continental Avenue in Forest Hills, Queens. Schwarz, who died in 1940, also produced a Cuban cigar called Polverin Vega. La Primadora brand is still produced in Danli, Honduras.
Philipjschwarz, grandson of Max Schwarz, is among the brethren posting to this list. Perhaps you could add more info and images about your grandfaher.


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## Cigary (Oct 19, 2007)

I still see T shirts with that image...makes me want to smoke a Habano tonight.


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

Woman smoking a cigar in the Phillippines c. 1907.
Been reading books lately about Filipino guerilla forces who helped America fight the Japanese in WWII.
Can any of yinz recommend your favorite Filipino cigar?


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## Hayden (Jul 18, 2016)

Thanks for this thread. Can you share more cigars postcards (especially like the first one (from the cigar factory)). Thank you in advance


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

A 1920s postcard of a Havana factory, showing a lucky worker sorting Partagas and Ramon Allones cigars. Note the Partagas logo embroidered on his smock.


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

Cuba's National Commission for Propaganda and Defence of Havana Tobacco published this postcard in 1938. The graphic also ran as an ad in the Dec. 10, 1938 New York Times.
The campaign noted that cigars promoted concentration, relaxation and peace.


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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

bripper said:


> Cuba's National Commission for Propaganda and Defence of Havana Tobacco published this postcard in 1938. The graphic also ran as an ad in the Dec. 10, 1938 New York Times.
> 
> The campaign noted that cigars promoted concentration, relaxation and peace.


That's a great piece of history. Back when ads were actually called Propaganda. I doubt the current Madison Ave folks would like answering to a ministry of Propaganda these days.

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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

La Corona Cigar Factory is shown to the left of the old Presidential Palace on Avenida Belgica in Havana in this 1930 B&W real photo postcard.
La Corona was home to such fabled brands as Romeo y Julieta, Hoyo de Monterrey, Cuaba, Por Larrañaga, Saint Luis Rey, San Cristóbal de la Habana, and Montecristo.


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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

Via a don't get as much respect as they should. They look different but they are pretty tasty. 

Parti Presidentes resemble those Cuabas

Back in the good old days. Of course I hope these days return and the Feds don't make buying a cigar like buying a 2018 gasoline powered Volvo. 


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

Front and back of a nice B&W real photo card for Havana City Store, circa late 1940s. Cigars are front and center in this shot, located above rum bottles. The post card back advertises "Cuba's choisest cigars". 
Love the womens' fashions. This is a tourist shop offering the best of Cuban exports.


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## poppajon75 (Apr 10, 2016)

I really do enjoy seeing your collection @bripper. B&W photos and, print are king in my book. Thanks again for sharing.

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## Randy956 (Dec 16, 2013)

I second what @poppajon75 said.

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## huffer33 (Jun 13, 2017)

Really glad I stumbled on this - thanks for posting OP.


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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

I love them too. I haven't had too much time for the forum as of late but love this stuff. Thanks Bart. 

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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

Rollers in a 1920s factory in Tampa The Cigar City.
The straw hats make this seem like a jaunty bunch until you see the guy in the foreground with the comb-over. Does not look like a happy day for him.


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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

bripper said:


> Rollers in a 1920s factory in Tampa The Cigar City.
> 
> The straw hats make this seem like a jaunty bunch until you see the guy in the foreground with the comb-over. Does not look like a happy day for him.


Yes indeed. He looks rather upset by his working condition or just screwed up a few cigars. Life was a lot tougher back then.

Cool postcard Bart!

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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

Cigar rollers at an unknown factory in a 1910 postcard. Had to be stifling in ties and long-sleeve shirts.


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## SoCal Gunner (Apr 7, 2016)

These are fascinating.
Thanks for posting.


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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

bripper said:


> Cigar rollers at an unknown factory in a 1910 postcard. Had to be stifling in ties and long-sleeve shirts.


The cotton shirts were lighter back in those days plus it was the most breathable fabric if the time. Dressing like this was fairly common, even in the beginning of automobile line production, until they found out that ties and belts/pulleys don't mix well.

It's easy to forget that polyester, nylon and really any synthetic fibers were none existent or extremely rare and expensive. I'm certain their ties were a thin silk with muslin underneath.

Perhaps these were clear Habanos where the leafs were shipped to the states and the weather was slightly less tropical, but I'll still stand by my statement on cotton.

In Hawaii, business attire is pretty much pressed cotton aloha shirts and pressed khakis with loafers. Not your Hawaiian surf bum, tourist ir silk clad people, but even many bankers wear the pressed cotton fibers to this day.

Cool post card.

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## Cigary (Oct 19, 2007)

bripper said:


> Rollers in a 1920s factory in Tampa The Cigar City.
> The straw hats make this seem like a jaunty bunch until you see the guy in the foreground with the comb-over. Does not look like a happy day for him.


My old stomping grounds....was in college but not in the 20's as some would expect. I was student in the Tampa/USF area and made my way around Ybor City and other Cigar areas...what a treat! On the weekends I was a fixture walking up and down the sidewalks smoking many a cigar and with my friends it made for some great memories. The rich history...talking to owners/managers was a history lesson about everything cigars. When I wasn't in Ybor City I'd wander down on the weekends to Miami and hit the cigar places there...those old Cuban men actually would talk with me after I proved to them of my interest and would sit there playing dominoes and cards and give me an up close and personal accounting of the hobby. I moved to Palm Beach Gardens for a time in 2003 and took up my history lessons by riding my motorcycle up and down the state to cigar places and talking and sharing things with others....one of the best times of my life and have only returned a few times since then in my travels.


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

Here is a postcard of tobacco strippers at a Havana factory, with a 1911 postmark. Seem to be all women with a man supervisor at left.


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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

After reading "Tobacco strippers," my evil mind immediately thought of scantily clad olive skinned tanned beauties with a cigar in their hand. 

Of course for 1911 these ladies look very well dressed. Now I wonder if they were as hot as the guys in shirts and ties rolling in a previous post card. 

Even in the drier season the islands are quite humid, but I've seen that in CA the locals don't sweat a lot. Of course they don't drink a lot of water as we do these days either. 

I'm sure it's all about growing up with that heat and having the Caribbean breeze blowing through those windows to Jeep the ladies cool. 

Nice cards B- 

How did you find yourself in this hobby? 


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

If ya like heads of dead critters, the Wilson Hotel in Salt Lake City was your place to stay.
This 1915 litho postcard also shows a cigar counter and a nifty lobby that would make a good smoking spot.


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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

bripper said:


> If ya like heads of dead critters, the Wilson Hotel in Salt Lake City was your place to stay.
> 
> This 1915 litho postcard also shows a cigar counter and a nifty lobby that would make a good smoking spot.


Lots of places, creepy inns and restaurants in the Rockies and Alaska with an insane amount of mounted heads.

The Red Lion is a restaurant up the Canyon from Boulder towards Rocky Mountain National Park that has all sorts of strange meats on their menus. They also have way too many mounted heads to make one not feel a bit creeped out by it. You feel like you are in the Hotel where the Shining was set.

That place really isn't that bad to some I've seen. Probably the norm back in the day most people killed most of their meat supply.


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

Unusually detailed closeup of cigars boxes and a wonderful cash register in this 1911 B&W real photo postcard of Oberg Bros. Palace of Sweets in Philbrook MN.
The sensational name Palace of Sweets suggests that the cigar counter was part of a candy store or probably a drug store.


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

Couple of guys playing cards in Camaguey, Cuba, circa 1930s. Looks like they have enough cigars to last the night.
An unusual postcard. May have been taken by a street photographer. The card's back reads Foto Mendoza.


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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

Cool stuff B-


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## Humphrey's Ghost (Dec 27, 2016)

Great stuff, as usual


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

Two Princeton football players celebrate a victory with smokes in 1955. No info on the bow-tied guy with them. Could be their dad, as the ears and jawlines are similar. No. 81 might be star of the game, as he's got a game ball.
The 1955 Tigers won the Ivy league with a 7-2 record. Could not find a roster online to identify the players in this repro postcard, probably taken from a newspaper photo.
We see NFL players smoking cigars when they win the Super Bowl. But never see college players smoking in photos, even selfies.


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

Post card circa 1910 of Cuban tobacco grown in shade.

Shade tobacco used mostly as wrappers and binders.


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## msmith1986 (Apr 24, 2017)

I'm glad I found this thread. I just read through the whole thing. I'm a huge local history guy here in York county/south central PA area. I have postcards of cigar factories, textile factories, stores, Faust Distillery, Michter's distillery, Pullman automobiles, York peppermint patty, and the list goes on. 
I'll dig up some local cigar ones if you like.

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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

msmith1986 said:


> I'm glad I found this thread. I just read through the whole thing. I'm a huge local history guy here in York county/south central PA area. I have postcards of cigar factories, textile factories, stores, Faust Distillery, Michter's distillery, Pullman automobiles, York peppermint patty, and the list goes on.
> I'll dig up some local cigar ones if you like.
> 
> Sent from my LG-H830 using Tapatalk


Last I checked, this forum is open to one and all. Sure, post your York postcards.


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

Unlike most of the cards I post, this New York City landmark is still in business 24 hours a day. Located at Sheridan Square near the subway's Christopher Street station.
This 1970s chrome postcard shows a busy storefront that has not changed much. That woman walking through the door probably still shops there for paperback books, clocks, rainwear and cigars.


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## msmith1986 (Apr 24, 2017)

bripper said:


> Unlike most of the cards I post, this New York City landmark is still in business 24 hours a day. Located at Sheridan Square nears the subway's Christopher Street station.
> This 1970s chrome postcard shows a busy storefront that has not changed much. That woman walking through the door probably still shops there for paperback books, clocks, rainwear and cigars.


That's awesome. I haven't been up to NYC in a while. I've been so busy, I haven't grabbed the box out of the basement yet to find my local ones.

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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

H.C. Nolan & Company produced cigars from this factory at 2nd and Walnut Streets in Lansdale PA. This 1900s postcard shows employees. The postcards were produced by a prolific local photographer Charles Berkemeyer.
H.C. Nolan also had a cigar factory in Sellersville PA.


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## msmith1986 (Apr 24, 2017)

bripper said:


> H.C. Nolan & Company produced cigars from this factory at 2nd and Walnut Streets in Lansdale PA. This 1900s postcard shows employees. The postcards were produced by a prolific local photographer Charles Berkemeyer.
> H.C. Nolan also had a cigar factory in Sellersville PA.


I should've looked for mine. I think I have both of those, lol. Those are in great condition.

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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

If you look close, there are cigars in the cashier case lower right corner of this stunning 1936 linen postcard of T and T Sea Grill in Worcester MA. Love this card -- the fountain, the checkerboard floor, the maritime art. And they offer shore dinners and venison steaks. A dream place.


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

Top card is 1933 Curt Teich Co. linen postcard of Havana. Capitol is in center. Below is a 1938 aerial linen card. Stunning how many cigars were being consumed in these buildings when these images were done.


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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

bripper said:


> Top card is 1933 Curt Teich Co. linen postcard of Havana. Capitol is in center. Below is a 1938 aerial linen card. Stunning how many cigars were being consumed in these buildings when these images were done.


Kind of like cigarettes in the 20s- early 1970s. Pretty much from stick to stick. With a drink alongside, back when a rum in the office didn't have to be hidden.

It's so hard to convince millennial kids that Madmen and the booze, tobacco and outfits were real and pretty much everywhere.

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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

Considering it is 115 years old, this chromolithograph postcard is remarkably clear. Nice soft colors. Is a Havana cigar factory, showing the rollers and the lector reading a newspaper.


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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

bripper said:


> Considering it is 115 years old, this chromolithograph postcard is remarkably clear. Nice soft colors. Is a Havana cigar factory, showing the rollers and the lector reading a newspaper.


Very cool. I know your Pirates are not in the Series but you have to have loved last night's game.

It's amazing that this card is so d and the colors are still legible. Many a tinnie look all discolored and flaking off the metal after a century even when stored out of direct light.

Solid picture.

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## WABOOM (Oct 15, 2015)

This thread is legendary. Thank you for taking the time to upload these. I know we all love these historic glimpses into the past.


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

Champagne InHand said:


> Very cool. I know your Pirates are not in the Series but you have to have loved last night's game.


We're not in the Series? Pirates barely in the National League.
One of the best thing about being a Pirates fan is the Steelers. 
Since Steelers are off next weekend, Mrs Ripper and I heading north to Vancouver BC to see Penguins play the Canucks.


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## Cigary (Oct 19, 2007)

bripper said:


> We're not in the Series? Pirates barely in the National League.
> One of the best thing about being a Pirates fan is the Steelers.
> Since Steelers are off next weekend, Mrs Ripper and I heading north to Vancouver BC to see Penguins play the Canucks.


Let Mrs. Ripper see what a romantic hubby she has by taking her to Butchart Gardens.....always good for a ticket out of the Dog House.


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## churchpunk (Sep 1, 2017)

UBC03 said:


> One cool thing about living around here is the Marsh Wheeling advertisements still on buildings from many decades ago. Along with the Mail Pouch painted barns..but both are getting fewer each year.


Got one of the Mail Pouch painted barns a couple streets up, maybe next time I go by I'll snap a pic. Its a beauty


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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

I’m so glad the NHL is back. 

Cool cards brother. 


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

This 1915 embossed postcard has one motif to qualify for this thread -- a pumpkin smoking a cigar. He looks like a happy smoker!


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## msmith1986 (Apr 24, 2017)

I finally managed some basement time the other day to dig up some local ones. The front of this card is the inside of C.H. Sieker's store in down town York, PA at 275 W. Market St, two blocks before Continental Square. Circa 1890. As you can see in the front case, Sieker's store had a lot of cigars in stock. Although primarily a giant cigar store, they bought, sold, and traded a lot of goods, similar to modern pawn shops do, and one could receive cigar tokens as seen in the 2nd picture, as payment for their trade. They were well known back then for acquiring strange objects and tools from local people and travelers alike to be able to get their smokes. A lot of the cigars they carried and sold were made in the dozens of factories scattered around York county. This coin/token is in very good condition and I don't know of any more of them still around. The York Historical Society said they haven't seen any others around either.
















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## cvrle1 (Oct 5, 2017)

bripper said:


> We're not in the Series? Pirates barely in the National League.
> One of the best thing about being a Pirates fan is the Steelers.
> Since Steelers are off next weekend, Mrs Ripper and I heading north to Vancouver BC to see Penguins play the Canucks.


Man, if I was in Vancouver (away this week in Calgary) I would have said lets get together as I live in Vancouver. I was going to see that game as well, as pens are my team for long time now, but will be away. I was able to see them play Calgary tonight though. Just came back from that game, so that is good consolation prize. Enjoy your stay, and bring warm clothes. We got bunch of snow there, which is really uncommon.


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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

msmith1986 said:


> I finally managed some basement time the other day to dig up some local ones. The front of this card is the inside of C.H. Sieker's store in down town York, PA at 275 W. Market St, two blocks before Continental Square. Circa 1890. As you can see in the front case, Sieker's store had a lot of cigars in stock. Although primarily a giant cigar store, they bought, sold, and traded a lot of goods, similar to modern pawn shops do, and one could receive cigar tokens as seen in the 2nd picture, as payment for their trade. They were well known back then for acquiring strange objects and tools from local people and travelers alike to be able to get their smokes. A lot of the cigars they carried and sold were made in the dozens of factories scattered around York county. This coin/token is in very good condition and I don't know of any more of them still around. The York Historical Society said they haven't seen any others around either.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That's pretty amazing. You think of the kids that dreamed of running away to be a cigar smoking bum, back in the 30s, 40s and 50s. It would replace the kids roaming around tearing out the copper pipes of vacant buildings up here in the rust belt, but they trade the copper for more unsavory things.

We have a lot of panhandlers that have signs saying "Work for food," most who generally won't and make more cash than many actually working. I will only give them a bottle of water, but if I saw a guy with a sign saying will work for cigars, then I would surely hand out a cigar.

It's funny that unless you partake of the leaf, most citizens would not guess that PA has such a rich heritage with the tobacco industry. It makes sense as the titans of industry had clubs, friends and feuds over PA.

Thanks for sharing.

I think we can all agree that it's great to have the NHL back. Bripper's got me following the Pens a bit now. Seems that they are off to a pretty good start. Let's hope they keep it up. The local team here is more of a billionaire's tax write off, which is sad.

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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

cvrle1 said:


> Man, if I was in Vancouver (away this week in Calgary) I would have said lets get together as I live in Vancouver. I was going to see that game as well, as pens are my team for long time now, but will be away. I was able to see them play Calgary tonight though. Just came back from that game, so that is good consolation prize. Enjoy your stay, and bring warm clothes. We got bunch of snow there, which is really uncommon.


We outshot the Canucks 39-21 and found a way to lose 4-2. A 20-year-old rookie named Brock Boeser, with 2 goals this season, had a hat trick.
Rogers Arena was nice. Schmoozed with many Penguins fans. Maybe 20% Pens fans in the arena.
Since there was a CFL game conveniently scheduled for same time at 75,000-seat football stadium across the street, we decided not to battle for a cab in post-game traffic. Went to Frankie's Italian Kitchen for garlic prawns and wonderful meatballs after the game. Followed by a La Flor Dominicana Double Ligero Chiselito Maduro.


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

La Victoire was a restaurant owned by Harry L. Katz opposite the Steel Pier in Atlantic City NJ. A well-fortified cigar counter was across from the cash register in this late 1920s linen postcard published by E.C. Kropp of Milwaukee.
La Victoire offered a blue plate seafood special that included half a lobster. Late-night customers were entertained by mucis from Warner MacFarlane's La Victoire Melody Makers.


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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

Great card. Sounds like you had a blast in Vancouver. I really liked my trips to B.C., whether it was Vancouver or out to Victoria. The NHL season is young. Probably a spectacularly for the home crowd. 

Loving wealthy in the 1920s would have been a hoot if it didn’t take forever and a day to get anywhere. Even for the industry titans at the time. I guess that’s why they had their homes, stops and railroad cars well stocked with things to pleasantly pass the time. 

Sadly they were so obsessed about making more money that their staff and family members probably enjoyed the places even more. 


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

The West Hotel in Sioux City IA circa 1910 looks like a pretty great place to herf. Plenty of rocking chairs, no annoying TVs, a few postcard racks at the cigar counter, a mail drop (that rectangle white box on the pole next to the counter) to tell folks back home you've gone to Iowa to sit in a rocker and smoke cigars.


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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

bripper said:


> The West Hotel in Sioux City IA circa 1910 looks like a pretty great place to herf. Plenty of rocking chairs, no annoying TVs, a few postcard racks at the cigar counter, a mail drop (that rectangle white box on the pole next to the counter) to tell folks back home you've gone to Iowa to sit in a rocker and smoke cigars.


When living in Omaha and having to venture up to Sioux City, we referred to it as Sewer City, because of that heavy stockyard odor, and that was comparing it next to South O, where they had a huge Stock Exchange, literally. We would venture up to Sioux Falls if at all possible or head in-land to places much smaller.

I've stayed nights in many worse Snelling places. Ft. Worth during their stick yard era could smell something fierce.

I guess having a place that smelt of good cigars, where they would pour you a hood whisky or whiskey probably helped a lot.

Remember that the kids always loved to receive cards in the mail and if it was just of a place you called your home away from home, that was good enough for most kids. It's not like Sioux City has a ton of beautiful landscape shots.

From what I've read and heard, Sioux City has vastly improved with industry, cleaning up the odors and building up manufacturing industry to make it a better place to live.

It's great to see pictures of this type of Americana as it's most likely lost forever. Kids want FaceTime or presents rather than just a card in the mail from whomever is traveling in the family.

Thanks for posting the picture of yesteryear.

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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

This was my grandfather Sam Hepps's drugstore at 406 Dixon St in Homestead PA, just across the Monongahela River from Pittsburgh. The store had been a saloon owned by my great-grandfather Bernhardt Hepps, like his son a pharmacist. That's my great-grandfather, also known as Barney, in the big handlebar mustache. He was a Piittsburgh Pirates season box seat holder. He died during the 1949 World Series -- 6 months before I was born. I was named for him.
The store was across Dixon Street from US Steel No. 1 -- the biggest steel mill in the world. It had been Andrew Carnegie's mill. When the whistle blew at 3 pm and 12 midnight, ending the shifts, the mill workers, known as steelers like our football team, would flock to my grandfather's store to buy cigars and light them at a perpetual gas flame. 
The right seat at the soda fountain is where I spent happy days as a child, consuming as many chocolate sodas as I could stomach, and watching the steelers light their cigars. That's where I smoked my first cigar, a Marsh Wheeling Stogie, at at age 12.
Here is an advertisement from the Homestead Daily Messenger of Dec 9, 1922, heralding the opening of my grandfather's drugstore. The postcard captions and newspaper ad spelled the business name as Hepp's, but my maternal grandparents were named Hepps. They were from Hungary. 
Marsh Big Havana Cigars, from Mifflin M. Marsh's cigar factory in Wheeling WV, were sold 6 for a quarter. A box of 50 was $2.05. The factory produced 30 million cigars a year during the 1920s, with half of them sold in the Tri-State area of Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.


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## msmith1986 (Apr 24, 2017)

bripper said:


> This was my grandfather Sam Hepps's drugstore at 406 Dixon St in Homestead PA, just across the Monongahela River from Pittsburgh. The store had been a saloon owned by my great-grandfather Bernhardt Hepps, like his son a pharmacist. That's my great-grandfather, also known as Barney, in the big handlebar mustache. He was a Piittsburgh Pirates season box seat holder. He died during the 1949 World Series -- 6 months before I was born. I was named for him.
> The store was across Dixon Street from US Steel No. 1 -- the biggest steel mill in the world. It had been Andrew Carnegie's mill. When the whistle blew at 3 pm and 12 midnight, ending the shifts, the mill workers, known as steelers like our football team, would flock to my grandfather's store to buy cigars and light them at a perpetual gas flame.
> The right seat at the soda fountain is where I spent happy days as a child, consuming as many chocolate sodas as I could stomach, and watching the steelers light their cigars. That's where I smoked my first cigar, a Marsh Wheeling Stogie, at at age 12.
> Here is an advertisement from the Homestead Daily Messenger of Dec 9, 1922, heralding the opening of my grandfather's drugstore. The postcard captions and newspaper ad spelled the business name as Hepp's, but my maternal grandparents were named Hepps. They were from Hungary.
> Marsh Big Havana Cigars, from Mifflin M. Marsh's cigar factory in Wheeling WV, were sold 6 for a quarter. A box of 50 was $2.05. The factory produced 30 million cigars a year during the 1920s, with half of them sold in the Tri-State area of Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.


That is awesome. I didn't know you were from PA. Lots of Rye whiskey out your way back then too.

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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

My father was a pharmacist by trade, but worked his buddy’s store in Helper, Utah, a stop on the transcontinental line between Grand Junction and Provo, Utah stops. It was all coal towns up there, but Price (near Helper) houses the biggest dinosaur finds in much of the world. 

I loved those old style pharmacies. By BIL, married to my sister, grew up in one run by his father in Paris, Idaho. 
Almost all of “Napoleon Dynamite,” was filmed in that area right next to Bear Lake. 

My sister’s oldest is now a pharmacist, my daughter wants to get her PharmD, but I’m trying to convince her otherwise as that market is over saturated and you need to predict the future. 

Great photos Bart. 


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

United Cigars Stores of America was the first chain store offering cigars and tobacco products. Founded 1901. Had 3,000 stores across America 1926. Bankruptcy 1932. Reorganized and expanded to 1,300 stores by 1951. Essentially out of business 1962. The name still used by IMASCO Ltd., which sells to tobacconists in North America.
There were United Cigar stores on street corners in thousands of American cities and towns, mostly eastern US. Here is a cavalcade of United Cigar stores in postcard street views, plus a holiday promo postcard from December 1916 and a United Cigar stock certificate. Second card from the top shows New York's Flatiron Building topped by an illuminated United Cigars sign. The bottom postcard with the flower stands is in San Francisco.
I like the Bridgeport CT 1935 linen postcard showing the depot, the train yards and the United Cigar store with a couple of schnorrers out front, having a smoke.


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

Found this spectacular postcard online. Would love this car to be my daily driver.
The Pinterest werbsite says the late 1930s card is from Merchants Cigar & Candy Co. of Fort Lauderdale. Santa's 2 wingmen, who look fantastic, do not seem dressed for Fort Lauderdale, even in December. There is a Hav-A-Tampa window sign and what appears to be a shoe scraper on the sidewalk.


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

Santa Claus is having a fantastic Christmas, drinking champagne and smoking a cigar in a cornucopia of nuts, fruits and money bags in this circa 1910 embossed holiday postcard.
Happiest of holidays to all!


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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

bripper said:


> Santa Claus is having a fantastic Christmas, drinking champagne and smoking a cigar in a cornucopia of nuts, fruits and money bags in this circa 1910 embossed holiday postcard.
> 
> Happiest of holidays to all!


That will be me Christmas Eve, but the dollar amounts will have decimal points in between.

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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

Just realized I had let this thread run dormant for a couple of years. Here is a Christmas postcard circa 1908.
Happy Holidays to the cigar brethren!


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## WABOOM (Oct 15, 2015)

It's been a while! I love these pics you post. Thank you.


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

Mid-1900s chromo postcard of the office at the Bliss Hotel in Bluffton IN. Click for larger image.
If this was my office, I would never go home.


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## Champagne InHand (Sep 14, 2015)

Enjoy the holidays B. It’s been a crazy couple of years here for me. Good to see you post. 


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

A wonderful 1939 Curteich linen postcard of a Panama City, Panama street scene. Avenida Central has people, cool cars, airbrushed utilities and a fantastic cigar store sign.


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

This embossed 1904 German postcard shows a box of La Victoria cigars, a box of wooden matches, a bottle of wine and holiday swag. Got enough smokes to last the night.


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

A Detroit Publishing Co. post card, circa 1910, showing a tobacco field in Cabaiguan, Cuba. Growers are posed in center.
Detroit Publishing Co. was the paramount post card publisher in North America from the late 1890s until 1932. Go to this Library of Congress site to read more: https://www.loc.gov/collections/detroit-publishing-company/about-this-collection/


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## bripper (May 24, 2008)

Have been searching my files for a post card pertinent to the Super Bowl in Miami. But could not find a cigar postcard from Miami. Not even a street scene showing a cigar store. This pair will have to suffice -- an aerial linen card, circa 1940, of the Port of Miami, showing a seaplane and the Goodyear blimp, and a wonderful interior of a soda fountain at the E.B. Douglas Store, circa 1915. Looks like a swell spot to chill, drink a soda and have a smoke.


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## JtAv8tor (Apr 12, 2017)

bripper said:


> Have been searching my files for a post card pertinent to the Super Bowl in Miami. But could not find a cigar postcard from Miami. Not even a street scene showing a cigar store. This pair will have to suffice -- an aerial linen card, circa 1940, of the Port of Miami, showing a seaplane and the Goodyear blimp, and a wonderful interior of a soda fountain at the E.B. Douglas Store, circa 1915. Looks like a swell spot to chill, drink a soda and have a smoke.


Very cool!

"I have you now" - Vader


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